Trump says he'll sign order ending child-parent separation

President Trump Wednesday afternoon signed an executive order ending family separation at the U.S. -Mexico border.

The White House may run into legal difficulties if the executive order requires families to be held intact together indefinitely since a federal consent decree known as the Flores settlement says children must be released after 20 days.

The Trump administration has been under increasing pressure from the public, religious leaders and Democrats in Congress, as well as most Republicans to end the practice of separating children from parents at border detention facilities.

Under the order, entire immigrant families would be detained together by the Department of Homeland Security pending legal and court proceedings for the parents.

Governors from at least eight US states - including two Republicans - have reversed their decision to send National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border.

But the president says it is necessary to stop illegal border crossings.

Many want more clarity from Trump before giving their backing to the broader immigration bills, which also offer different remedies for other provisions on protecting immigrant Dreamers from deportation and funding for Trump's border wall.

"We need you, those children need you -and I am talking directly to my Republican colleagues- we need you to stand up to President Donald Trump", he said. "So I'm going to be signing an executive order in a little while before I go to Minnesota".

We want to keep families together.

The children, who are not charged with a crime, are separated as a result of their parents' criminal case.

He called the measure "somewhat preemptive" but called on Congress to work towards a more permanent fix on the issue, saying that perhaps a more comprehensive immigration reform bill- one that may tackle the family separation issue, while also addressing security concerns, etc. - may be possible.